Global Status: G4G5Global Status Last Reviewed: 15Sep2009Global Status Last Changed: 15Sep2009Rounded Global Status: G4 - Apparently SecureReasons: Despite the documented decline in Ontario, there is no evidence this species is disappearing on a large scale. It is still being found widely from New York City gardens to Illinois aglands. Its primary host, Bombus impatiens, is probably the most abundant bumblebee in North America, and one of several that is documented as increasing. However, the other known host, B. vagans, is reportedly declining rather widely. This species probably should be assigned a conservation status rank of G5, but there is still some uncertainty.Nation: United StatesNational Status: N4N5
(14Jun2010)
Nation: CanadaNational Status: N5
(22Jun2017)

U.S. & Canada State/Province StatusDue to latency between updates made in state, provincial or other
NatureServe Network databases and when they appear on NatureServe Explorer,
for state or provincial information you may wish to contact the data steward
in your jurisdiction to obtain the most current data.
Please refer to our Distribution Data Sources to find
contact information for your jurisdiction.

Range Extent: 200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)Range Extent Comments: Roughly New Brunswick west at least through Ontario and into Nebraska, south to Georgia and Alabama. Although widespread, this species seems more northern, eastern, and montane than its primary host. There was a collection of this species in Vermont in 2007 (Rolnick, 2007) and numerous other recent studies have reported this species, including Gardner and Ascher (2006), Matteson et al. (2008), Fetridge et al. (2008) in New York (including New York City gardens), Tuell et al. (2008) in Michigan, Grixti et al. (2009) in Illinois, Golig and Ellis (2006) in Nebraska, and Colla and Packer (2008) in southern Ontario.

Number of Occurrences: > 300

Population Size: Unknown

Number of Occurrences with Good Viability/Integrity: Unknown Viability/Integrity Comments: Probably hundreds but it is possible there are unknown threats.

Short-term Trend: Decline of <30% to increase of 25%Short-term Trend Comments: Overall, this species is probably close to stable or increasing a bit. It primary host, Bombus impatiens, is increasing and very abundant, although a secondary host, B. vagans, is declining. Grixti et al. (2009) found that the range within Illinois has not changed much since 1900, while there may have been a slight increase in relative abundance since 2000. In contrast, Colla and Packer (2008) found a significant decline in Ontario, but the species was still found. No other reports of major changes in abundance were found and the species is still widespread at least northward.

Global Range:
(200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles))
Roughly New Brunswick west at least through Ontario and into Nebraska, south to Georgia and Alabama. Although widespread, this species seems more northern, eastern, and montane than its primary host. There was a collection of this species in Vermont in 2007 (Rolnick, 2007) and numerous other recent studies have reported this species, including Gardner and Ascher (2006), Matteson et al. (2008), Fetridge et al. (2008) in New York (including New York City gardens), Tuell et al. (2008) in Michigan, Grixti et al. (2009) in Illinois, Golig and Ellis (2006) in Nebraska, and Colla and Packer (2008) in southern Ontario.

U.S. States and Canadian Provinces

Due to latency between updates made in state, provincial or other
NatureServe Network databases and when they appear on NatureServe Explorer,
for state or provincial information you may wish to contact the data steward
in your jurisdiction to obtain the most current data.
Please refer to our Distribution Data Sources to find
contact information for your jurisdiction.

Endemism: occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

U.S. & Canada State/Province Distribution

United States

IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, NE, NH, NJ, NY, PA, VA, VT, WI

Canada

MB, NB, NF, NS, ON, PE, QC, SK

Range MapNo map available.

Ecology & Life History

Non-Migrant: NLocally Migrant: NLong Distance Migrant: NFood Comments: This is one of the cuckoo bumblebees that usurps the nest (and kills the queen) of other species. This one uses primarily the abundant Bombus (Pyrobombus) impatiens but also at least B. (P. ) vagans (Mitchell, 1962).

Colla, S., and L. Packer. 2008. Evidence for decline in eastern North American bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with special reference to Bombus affinis Cresson. Biodiversity and Conservation 17(6):1379-1391.

Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America (M. Berenbaum, Chair). 2007. Status of pollinators in North America. National Research Council of the National Academies, The National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 307 pp.

Danforth, B. N. and K. N. Magnacca. 2002. Bees of New York State. New York State Biodiversity Clearinghouse, New York State Biodiversity Project and New York State Biodiversity Research Institute. Online at http://www.nybiodiversity.org/summaries/bees/index.html

Fetridge, E.D, J.S. Ascher, and G. A. Langellotto. 2008. The bee fauna of residential gardens in a suburb of New York City (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 101(6):1067-1077.

Procter, W. 1938. Biological survey of the Mount Desert region. Part VI, the insect fauna with references to methods of capture, food plants, the flora and other biological features. The Wister Institute of Anatomy and Biology, the Mount Desert region, Corfield, Bar Harbor, Maine. 496 pp.

Richardson, L. 2013. Compilation of specimen records for Bombus species of North America from the American Museum of Natural History, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, among several other museums. Unpublished data.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 2008. Draft recovery plan for the prairie species of Western Oregon and Southwestern Washington. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. x + 212 pp. Available: http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/080922_1.pdf.

Yanega, D. 2013. Compilation of specimen records for Bombus species of North America from the University of California Riverside Entomology Research Museum, the Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California Berkeley, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California State Collection of Arthropods. Unpublished data.

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